Primal
Much of the power of changelings arises from the elemental affinity between their faerie souls and the forces of nature. In ancient times, the spirits of rocks and trees whispered their secrets to the fae who lived in the forests and groves. The ability to hear the forests' whispers was lost by most changelings during the Shattering, remembered only by the Inanimae. One of the first things the Inanimae taught the changelings after the Shattering was how to whisper back. The Inanimae are mostly asleep now, and the Art they taught — Primal — is rumored to be only a fraction of the wisdom the nature spirits could have imparted. As a sign of gratitude to these beings, the cantrips of Primal are named after the spirits who helped the fae relearn these connections. Kithain often stereotype other changelings who specialize in Primal cantrips as "salt of the earth" types: simple, stolid and honest. This oversimplification often makes them the butt of pooka jokemeisters ("Hey, troll! Did you hear the one about the Willow-Whispering farmer's daughter who....") Primal cantrips have no effect on anything made of pure iron, though they can affect alloys, such as steel. Attribute: '''Stamina • Willow Whisper This cantrip allows the changeling to talk to anything, even things that normally cannot talk or understand speech. Willow Whisper grants the ability to speak to books, furniture, rocks, plants, buildings, aliens... anything. There is one limitation to this cantrip: all requests must be phrased in a whisper. Using Willow Whisper in a place such as a football stadium in the middle of a game is a fruitless exercise. Also, nonsentient objects possess nonsentient intellect; rocks and trees may be really interesting to talk to, but they process information differently. An oak tree might think of "a short while" as 20 years, while a rock might consider several thousand years as a brief moment. Storytellers should imbue inanimate objects with personalities appropriate to their natures. '''System: '''The Nature and Prop Realms are most commonly used in conjunction with this Art, describing the object with which the caster is trying to communicate. The successes indicate how many questions may be asked and the clarity of response from the subject. Multiple castings upon a target are cumulative, but each successive casting is at + 1 difficulty. The Realm describes the object with which the changeling is communicating. '''Type: Chimerical •• Eldritch Prime The user of this cantrip can cause any one of the following natural elements to appear: fire, water, earth, air or wood. The cantrip causes the element to appear in the most natural form possible: water showers down as either rain or bubbles up from the ground like a spring; wood either sprouts out of the ground, or an object "grows" bark. The element can appear in an unnatural setting (such as rain indoors), but the element could nor appear in an unnatural or manufactured form. A changeling could not suddenly cage an opponent inside a square wooden box, but he could cause a network of roots to grow around a target, forming a most unusual prison. System: '''If simply creating natural elements, the Nature Realm is used. If actually affecting an individual, both the Nature and the appropriate Realm (for whatever is being affected) must be used. The number of successes determines how much of the element appears. For every two successes gained (round up), the changeling can create a one-die effect (as is generally the case when conjuring fire and air) or provide one Health Level of protection (as can be the case when conjuring stone or wood). For example, a caster achieving three successes can cause a root-prison to appear that could withstand two levels of damage. A caster who rolls one success could summon a flame that would inflict one Health Level of damage, or cause bark to grow on her skin, protecting against one Health Level of damage. Multiple castings are cumulative. The changeling can direct where the element will appear, but she cannot control what the element does unless she recasts the cantrip. If she causes fire to rain from the sky, she cannot control the path of the resulting inferno unless she recasts the cantrip and receives at least as many successes as the present size of the flame. The consistency of the element is up to the caster, but she may not conjure anything that is not a phenomenon "normally" occurring in nature.The effects of this cantrip last for one minute for each success earned. '''Type: '''Chimerical ••• Oakenshield This cantrip imbues an object or person with the solid, protective essence of oak bark. Targets of Oakenshield can resist a tremendous amount of chimerical punishment. '''System: The Fae and Actor Realms are most commonly used in conjunction with this Art, though it is possible to use Prop or even Nature in some aspects to protect a specific item from damage. Each success provides a Health Level over and above the Health Levels already possessed by the target. These extra Health Levels last until they are destroyed by damage or deliberately shed by the wearer. Multiple castings are not cumulative, and any successive casting of Oakenshield negates the successes gained by any previous castings of it. Type: Chimerical •••• Heather Balm/Holly Strike This cantrip has two uses: it can either mend that which is broken, or it can break something by expanding upon tiny imperfections in the object. The caster can heal or break anything, although Storytellers may decide that affecting certain objects or areas requires an extra expenditure of Glamour and/or Willpower. System: Almost any Art can be used in conjunction with this Realm. The Realm used is determined by the person or object to be healed or harmed. If the caster uses Scene Realm to spread the damage over a large area (or several persons), the total damage is equally distributed. Heather Balm heals one Health Level per success. In the case of nonliving objects, the Storyteller decides how many successes are required to repair the subject. For Holly Strike, one Health Level of damage is caused for each success earned. When this Art is used on people, weird, jagged lacerations appear on random parts of the body. When damaging objects, the Storyteller must determine how many Health Levels are needed to destroy it. Type: '''Chimerical ••••• Elder-Form This cantrip allows the caster or another target to take on the shape of something else. The new form possesses all of the Attributes and disadvantages of the new form. If the changeling turns himself into a tree, he may be taller and tougher, but he won't be able to talk (unless he casts Willow Whisper — just how does one perform that Bunk now, anyway?) If he turns himself into a stone, well, he'd better hope he's in a scenic spot, because he'll be seeing a lot of it in the next several centuries. While it is possible for the changeling to transform himself into the form of a mythical beast, he does not gain any magical powers from this change. A character altered by Elder-Form only gains any natural abilities that form may have, not supernatural powers. For example, a changeling who transformed himself to appear as a vampire would have pale skin and maybe even fangs, but he would gain none of the special vampiric powers (such as regeneration), nor would he be susceptible to a vampire's weaknesses (such as sunlight). The same would be true if a changeling transformed himself into a dragon; he would have scales and claws, but he could not breathe fire. '''System: Unlike most cantrips, the Realm used with this Art is determined by the form the caster wishes the target to take. The period of the transformation is determined by the number of successes. There is a chance that the target will revert to her original form each time an unenchanted person comes into contact with the target. Roll the unenchanted person's Banality (difficulty 9); if the number of successes on this roll equals or exceeds the successes made by the caster of Elder-Form, the cantrip is dispelled. Type: Wyrd Category:Changeling Arts